DIY 20L AIO Build - Allmold

[Eagle_Steve]

Excuse the title, I have fat fingers lol. It should have said all old parts lol.

I was cleaning out the garage and was like hmmm, I have tanks, some acrylic and some other stuff. Let’s build a tank. (Actually made 2 of these lol).

Tank: 20l Petco tank
AIO: DIY 4 chamber
Skimmer: ????? No idea yet
Pump: IM mighty jet midsize (about 500gph)
Lighting: 2 bulb 30” T5 for now
Filtration: plan to make a diy media basket and a diy fuge basket.

Inhabitants: leak testing right now and running tank vinegar/water mix at same time. But plan to have a shrimp/goby and 2 pink skunk clowns. Keeping that simple.

Corals: plan to do all rock with rubble held together with small acrylic rods and this be a zoa grow out tank with a few lps from my colonies in the main tank. And a few shrooms from a local reef club member, as well a a super small bubble nem. Thanks for all of those @SmyrnaReefer

I have to say it was fun to build 2 of these. The other one if for a co-worker who wants to get into reefing. His tank will be all softies/zoas and a ton of shrooms.

This build was very simple and the 20l is a great small tank. Both tanks are setup like a peninsula, but fue to the location mine will be going, I plan to paint the back black.

Plumbing, if you call it that lol, was simple. Drill hole, thread hole, realize all you have is 3/4 locking and fittings, redrill hile, retap hole and use 3/4 instead of 1/2. Honestly with the fan nozzle it doesn’t look the bad, and not as huge in there as I thought it would. It also provides a nice wide spread of water flow that actually alternates a little due to bouncing off the sides. With the pump at 40%, I think I can get away with no Powerheads for a clean look. Not to mention it alternates due to how the nozzle is facing. We will see once the rock is in it.

Not to many pics for now, but more will follow as the tank gets setup.

 

[ndrwater]

Great start!! Keep the updates coming!!!

 

[NY_Caveman]

Very cool. Love to see old gear put to use creatively.

 

[dylana407]

Cool. Following.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

I was thinking of doing the same thing with a 20 Long but making the AIO part go along the entire back portion.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

I was thinking of doing the same thing with a 20 Long but making the AIO part go along the entire back portion.

I thought of that as well and I had enough acrylic to do it, but this tank is going to sit on a room divider, so peninsula was the way to go for me. Doing it long ways would allow for a decent sized fuge in the back, so it may get done with one of the other 20l or 40b I have lol. Worst case I make them and give them away for presents lol.

 

[Fishy_mcfish]

I thought of that as well and I had enough acrylic to do it, but this tank is going to sit on a room divider, so peninsula was the way to go for me. Doing it long ways would allow for a decent sized fuge in the back, so it may get done with one of the other 20l or 40b I have lol. Worst case I make them and give them away for presents lol.

I like presents [emoji320]! [emoji23][emoji1787] where do you get the acrylic?

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Well the tank is now up and running, has stable parameters (so far lol), and has inhabitants sitting on my desk next to me at work. I think I need to invest in another light, as I ended up not going with T5s. The Kessil A80 does a nice job, but I think its spread is just a hair shy without sitting up high and having it spill out of the tank. All in all I love having a little slice (well bigger then my old pico) in my office (decided to take it to work and do something else with the room divider area). Makes those long drawn out conf. calls much more bearable lol. Lean over and watch the goby shrimp pair do their thing.

Overall the only new item is the light. I just didn't like the T5s with it only being 2 bulbs. I couldn't get the look I wanted not being able to run only 2.

So far so good with parameters and hope it stays that way. All of the rock was from my system or from a system that has been established and well taken care of. The sand was even in my sump and went in after a wash. It has completely missed a cycle I think. Knock on wood lol. Nitrates at 5, Phosphate at .03, Ammonia at 0, Nitrites at 0. The only issue it has is PH around 8.0. I would like to bring that up to a little above 8, but 8.0 isn't going to kill anything. Water change will be about 1.5 gallons a week for now and may adjust as needed if Nitrates get above 5.

Inhabitants:
2x Mated Pair Black and White Ocellaris Clowns
1x Tiger Pistol Shrimp
1x Orange Spotted Goby
4x mexican turbos
2x hermits

Corals:
1x Grape Coral Frag
1x Eagle Eye Zoa Rock
1x Large Rock full of shrooms (Thanks @SmyrnaReefer , I chopped the rock up more and kept some for myself, my friend will be fine with all the dropoffs and his piece of it lol.)
1x GSP chunk
6 ultra pink zoas that were very easy to detach from the massive grow out in my frag tank lol.
1x Toadstool leather that lets the clowns host. (currently eggs underneath it)
1x Steel Blue Xenia on a large rounded plug (makes it easy to keep it under control)
Numerous sponges that are still alive somehow

Filtration:
DIY Media basket (egg crate scraps ftw) with Filter Floss, Carbon, and then Purigen
Old Aquatic Life Mini Skimmer (Actually works well and bubbles do not make it past the traps. Also fits under the cover for the overflow)

Heater and Pump/Powerhead:
Enheim 100w
IM Mighty Jet Midsize
Hydor Korilla Nano on a cheap wave pump controller. Actually works well and is quiet. Gives a nice back and forth for the GSP, Xenia and grape coral.

1x DIY dual sensor ATO and it maybe adds 1 cup of water a day. 2 gallon bucket with RODI water in drawer on credenza the tank sits on lol.

As of 7am this morning with the lights ramping up. Poor clowns missed me (actually they just want food lol)

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Tank update pic as everything has stayed stable and I now have to dose nitrates. It seems all my tanks have this issue, except for one tank. I know I shouldn’t complain, but dang. Just annoying that I have to dose a 20g tank.

Lights just ramped up and leather isn’t fully opened yet.